by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes, he played in actual gyms, like the one he and his brother loved at the Mormon church in Hyde Park. Or he'd play elsewhere with some of the kids his father coached.

But by far the most convenient place for showcasing his moves was at home. He'd spend hours watching his father's tapes of basketball games from the '70s or NBA Hardwood Classic documentaries on NBA TV. He'd read articles on basketball stars from decades past and memorize their signature moves.

Then, he'd go downstairs. He'd jump up and hit the top of the entrance into the living room or the kitchen when he walked in. He'd pass his mother in the hallway and do a quick spin move to get around her. He'd do the same to his sisters.

"We were used to it," Jabari's mother, Lola, says laughing. "We always knew in his mind he was always mimicking what he was watching."

Once a month, Lola would wipe her son's fingerprints off the walls. A couple of years ago, she had to put moulding over the entrance to the living room. A big crack had started to show. "Jabari had hit it over and over and over again, I don't know how many times," she says.

For now, the moulding is safe. Ten years later, Parker is nearly 800 miles away, starring on a different - yet very famous - court at Duke.

Jabari remains much the same. He still loves basketball and calls himself a student of the game. He still mimics moves he sees other talented players do, which has made him college basketball's most versatile player. He still appears destined for NBA stardom, something his older brother has been predicting all along.

Through nine games, he's averaging 22.1 points and 7.8 rebounds a game. He is considered a top-three draft pick for June's NBA draft, and he's drawn comparisons to some of college basketball's greatest stars, such as Duke's Grant Hill. His older brother, Christian, puts his television on ESPN and leaves it there all day, every day. "There's always going to a be clip every time they talk about college basketball," Christian says.

Oddly enough, that's a recent development. Entering this season, much of the attention and hype surrounded Kansas freshman phenom Andrew Wiggins. The rest went to Julius Randle, the headliner of an impossibly talented freshman class at Kentucky. Jabari, a top-five recruit and the jewel of Duke's class, entered quietly into the realm of college basketball.

"In our profession, and especially with these young guys in high school, it's a little like 'out of sight, out of mind,'" Duke associate coach Jeff Capel says. "That's what happened to him. I think people really forgot how good he was."

That won't happen anymore.

***

Jabari got his love for basketball from his father and his faith from his mother, the Parkers like to say.

Surely it makes sense, then, that in the place where those two important pieces of Jabari's life intersected - on a basketball court inside the Mormon Church in Hyde Park - Parker began to blossom into the player and young man he's become.

A 10-minute drive from the Parkers' home on Chicago's South Side, the church became significant on multiple levels for Parker. A devout Mormon, he'd spent many hours there in prayer; it was where he was baptized. A basketball player in a neighborhood filled with drugs and violence, he relished the opportunity to play in a safe environment.

Christian would drive him over to the gym so they could play. A bishop had given Christian a key, so the brothers would sneak in to play - sometimes in the middle of the night. The boys would play one-on-one, and Parker would lose to his brother. It'd upset him, over and over again, as he struggled against his brother's athleticism and speed.

"The reason we'd be there all night is when Jabari loses, he just wants to play again," Christian says. "He loses again, he wants to play again. I'm like in high school, and he's, like, 9."

After Christian left home - first to complete his mission, then away to college - Jabari returned to the gym. It helped him through the ups and down of high school, too. "That was and is his sanctuary," Sonny Parker, Jabari's father, says. "Whenever he wants to get away from everything, he goes there."

Sonny spent six years in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors. After his career ended, he came back to Chicago to create and run a non-profit youth foundation - something that's impressed and inspired both Christian and Jabari.

"A lot of his work was behind closed doors," Jabari says. "That's what I want to do with my life. Be a good person when all the lights are off. When everybody doesn't need to see you, shine and know that you know you did the right thing at the end of the day."

The basketball community in Chicago is close-knit and fiercely competitive. Sonny knows everybody, and everybody knows Sonny.

Which means everyone knows Sonny's sons.

"My dad is like a basketball god in Chicago," Christian says. "He's like the only guy to go pro and come back and give so much back. ... We stepped on the court with expectations. It's a smaller version of being Michael Jordan's kid."

Sonny often talks to Jabari about the meaning behind his name; Jabari means "valiant" in Swahili. Ali, his middle name, comes from Muhammad Ali.

"Sonny didn't want to name him after him," Lola says. "He didn't want people to compare him to him. Those are hard shoes to be filled. You're always going to be labeled."

Still, Jabari Parker became a household name by age 17.

***

Last spring Jabari made the cover of Sports Illustrated, hailed as the best high school player since LeBron James. He and his family appeared on Good Morning America to discuss his faith.

He had just finished his junior year at Simeon Career Academy, having led the team to a third consecutive state championship. His stock had risen so high so quickly - but then it stopped.

In July, while playing at the FIBA U-17 World Championships, Jabari broke a bone in his right foot. The injury kept him sidelined for months. When he finally returned to the court for Simeon in December - after somehow conning his way into the game after wearing a boot, Capel jokes - Jabari was out of shape. He wasn't the same player he'd been before the injury. "He wasn't Jabari," Capel says. "He was a shell of himself."

"I was at the first game he came back," says Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who recruited Jabari heavily. "He wasn't even supposed to play. He'll play hurt. He just does the things that superstars don't do."

Jabari took time to get healthy and get into better shape. He eventually averaged 18.4 points and 10.4 rebounds and led Simeon to a 30-3 record and his fourth state title - but was somewhat overshadowed by other top recruits (Wiggins, for example) who played well and created a buzz around them during their senior seasons.

"As I think about it, last year was probably one of the biggest blessings that I had," Jabari says. "I had a break from basketball. I had a break from everything that was going on. I hit the media at an early age - the end of my sophomore year and early junior year. I was giving a lot. I didn't know how to deal with it. I was kind of stressing because I wanted to do everything at once.

"But my injury kind of sat me down. It gave me patience. It wanted me to focus on my senior year, having fun as a kid. â?¦ It just prepared me mentally for the things I'm facing right now."

Says Capel: "Talk about a testament of character, of strength - you go from being that guy, to being that good, that celebrated, that talked-about, to now, all of the sudden, people have forgotten about you. To experience that at 17, and to be able to have the mental capacity and the strength to not let that really (mess with you)."

***

At Duke Jabari has become the face of one of the nation's top teams. He shoulders the scoring load, recording 26% of Duke's points. His coaches are challenging him to develop as a post player, adding another dimension to his versatile game.

Meanwhile, back at home, his father has been slowed by a kidney disease that requires dialysis three times a week. The Parkers try to downplay Sonny's illness, feeling that the subject matter is and should be kept private.

Lola knows it's on her son's mind, however. When they speak on the phone, he always asks how his dad is doing. In New York over Thanksgiving, Jabari asked his mother to give Sonny a big hug for him when she got home.

Sonny, like Lola, has traveled to some of Duke's games this season, reminding Jabari they're never too far away. Both parents tell their son they don't want the illness or what's going on at home to weigh on him.

"It doesn't affect me," Parker says. "I know my dad is doing good. Of course, I'm worried about my family but I'm also worried about college. If they tell me they're all right, I have faith that things are going to go smoothly."

Lola has traveled to games in Durham and New York. When Jabari was growing up, Lola was usually the one driving him to games and practices; her nerves are acclimated. Sonny gets anxious. He often DVRs Jabari's games while watching something else in his son's bedroom. When it's over, he'll watch the game.

Considering Jabari's hot start to the season, there's not much to be nervous about. He continues to improve as both an athlete and a skilled basketball player, which is exactly what he hoped to do here in Durham.

***

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski wants his program to prepare players for the NBA. He's seen what it takes to get to that level and how to sustain it after summers spent coaching the world's best basketball players with USA Basketball.

"Look, a lot of the guys you recruit, they're pros already," Capel says. "We don't make people pros. Wiggins, Randle, Gordon, Parker - these guys are pros. When they come to you, they are pros.

"The thing we try to do here is teach guys how to be pros, best practices."

That includes trying to make Jabari wear contact lenses ("It's funny watching him trying to get the contacts in," Capel says. "It takes forever.") as well as orthotics for his feet.

"Jabari has a chance to be one of the elite guys," Capel says. "I'm not talking about in college; I'm talking about as a pro and forever. He should be that. One of our jobs is to help him understand how to become that."

Sometimes that's the little things, like the contacts or orthotics. Or the on-court lessons, like where to best position yourself to get the ball in the post. Or even off-court stuff, like presenting yourself professionally at all times.

"Jabari, where he's at right now and where I hope he'll be by the time he leaves here are really two different places," Krzyzewski says. "Once he learns more and because we're dependent on him, we're going to need him to do that. â?¦ I just feel he's got so much more. He's a great kid to work with. When he has the ball, he's so excited and he can do things you don't teach. If he learns to play without the ball to the level I think he can, I think he'll be, in the NBA, a franchise player. I think he's going to be unbelievable."